Question of the Week: Do you have any New Zealand family?

Question

Kia ora!

Do you have any ancestors or family members from New Zealand?

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Answer 1

I have New Zealand cousins on both sides of my family.  They all live in the North Island.  My father's family are Gales and my mother's maiden name was Cornford.  My great great grandfather, Philip Cornford, arrived in New Zealand in the 1800s, coming from Jamaica where he was a missionary.

Answer 2

I was born in New Zealand. Both my parents and their siblings were born in New Zealand.

Three of my four Grandparents are first generation Kiwis, My mother’s Dad came from NSW and was a first Generation Australian.

My great grandparents were mostly German or Scottish and Britain.

I still have family in New Zealand though I am living in Australia .

Answer 3

I have two 1st cousins 4 times removed who lived in Naseby.

Walter John Inder who immigrated in 1863. He had eleven children and one of his son was Town Clerk of Naseby.

Samuel Inder lived in Blackstone Hill and for a time was at the Prince Alfred Hotel he also had eleven children.

They both originally immigrated to Tasmania from Martock in Somerset. Then travelled to New Zealand in the Gold rush. One of their daughters was born under a wagon on the way to the gold fields.

Answer 4

My paternal grandfather came to Australia from New Zealand in the early 1930s.  His story was a mystery.  I finally solved some of it in 2001 thanks to the internet, then roll on to 2017 and autosomal DNA produces many more answers and family members.  Also today I met new Kiwi 2nd cousins of my Dad for the first time!

Answer 5

Yes my Uncle Thomas Henry Nixon emigrated to New Zealand with his wife Patricia Livesly and Had 2 daughters there in Auckland that married

Susan Snowden and Joanne Ngatai

Answer 6

My great great grandparents were one of the first to colonise the South island in the Nelson area. They arrived from England in Dec 1842 on the George Fyfe in Nelson. My gt gt grandmother was 8 months pregnant when they disembarked and she gave birth in Jan 1843. My great grandmother was born in 1844 and was the 8th baptism in the list of the first baptism register in Nelson. They had six children before my gt gt grandfather drowned crossing a river and my gt gt grandmother heartbroken decided to return to England, where she lived afterwards never to return.

Answer 7

I have met 3 of my first cousins once removed and some of their other family members on trips to New Zealand. I found out about them years ago by writing to a Scottish family history society.

Answer 8

In 1874, my 3rd great grandfather, James Duncan Belk, Sr., immigrated from London to Feilding, NZ with his wife Emma Dutton and 7 of their children and other relatives on the ship the Duke of Wellington. One of his daughters, Jane Duncan Belk, married Sicilian Stefano Ruggero and immigrated to the US. They are my 2nd great grandparents. Many other Belk relatives are still in NZ.

Answer 9

I have several through Frank Morton: Morton-9730 who married my great aunt in 1927 in California, USA. His parents had left England and settled in New Zealand 1860-1861 with 3 of his siblings. Frank was the youngest of 9 and several of their descendants still live in NZ.

Answer 10

Yes! Several years ago I tested my father's DNA and the first match was a woman in New Zealand. We spoke on the phone and it turns out that her grandfather left Russia for Egypt, later winding up in New Zealand and my grandfather went to the USA. We believe they were brothers. I met her daughter when she and her family were on a trip in the US. What a delight! I have a few cousins there and I hope that I can visit them someday!

Answer 11

When I was 16, my mother and I visited Rarotonga with a stop in Samoa, where we met a very friendly Samoan girl who took us to see her school and her home. Her mother was pregnant at the time and later had a baby girl who she named after me. My namesake now lives in Auckland and I have been in touch with her via Skype. Not exactly a relative, but an interesting connection.

Answer 12

One of the Tolmie family related to my Grandmother met a Middlemiss. They emigrated to New Zealand now there are several generations still living mainly on South Island around Southland.

Answer 13

My mother and maternal grandparents were born in England, but father, paternal grandparents, myself, sisters, husband, children all born and raised in NZ and most still live here, though one son is now living in England. Most of my connections on Wikitree come through the Holdaway family which has been researched well, and a few through the Morgan family, but I have very little on my English Stevenson and Wilks relations or ancestors.

Answer 14

My maternal grandfather's family.

His maternal grandparents arrived in 1847 as Fencible settlers on the Minerva. George Lovett and Margaret Biggs. His family are Irish and I haven't made much progress on them, hers were from Northamptonshire and I have them back to 1600s

Gfs paternal grandparents were Edward John Pearson and Elizabeth Webber arrived as military settlers on the Alice Cameron from Nsw in 1864 and built much of early Hamilton. Before that they emigrated from England to Nsw in 1858.

I have managed to chip a hole in one Pearson brick wall only to hit another , the Webbers.... extremely high walls.

Descendants are spread throughout the world.

Answer 15

My paternal grandfather was born in Dunedin after his parents emigrated from England. His mother moved the family to Australia when he was aged about 8 after his father died of TB.  I have cousins who live there still although I have never been there myself.

Answer 16

My Great  Grandfather was born in NZ but he and his brother left to go fight in the Boar War in South Africa. I was born in SA, but now living in NZ.

Answer 17

I and my siblings are first generation on my father's side - came from Oldham, Lancashire as a teenager - second generation on Mother's side - her parents came from Kent and Northamptonshire.  

One earlier in 1858 from Oldham and his sister which I didn't know about till recently.  Some family from them but not been able to make contact.

Answer 18

I was born in New Zealand.    I have 3 daughters, 2 grandchildren and a great granddaughter there.   My mother had 4 husbands so I had 15 half siblings and keep finding more DNA matches.   My mother’s father was Canadian so I have found 6,000 American relatives plus relatives from 20 ethnic groups.   I now live in Australia but will always be a Kiwi.

Answer 19

A Scottish cousin, Frances Campbell White Brander, emigrated to NZ and married Vivian Leonard Gittos in 1922.  They appear to have lived in Auckland.  Not sure if they had any children.  Frances died in 1978.

Comments

They had at least one child. Vivian Brander Gittos, born 20 Dec 1924. Reg. No. from the NZ online index of births is 1925/6368.  Died in 2022, Reg. No. from the NZ online index of deaths is 2022/27352.

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Thanks very much for the information.

Answer 20

What a timely question!  Yes, My first cousin three times removed Miriam Lois Vallance sailed from England to New Zealand in 1873 where she settled, joining her elder sister Mary Eliza Vallance who had made the journey in 1861.  I myself will visit New Zealand in early March where I will meet for the first time Miriam’s descendant, my fourth cousin.